Apple has today revealed the list of all its most popular podcasts on the Apple Podcasts platform for 2023, revealing the top shows, newcomers, and the most shared shows and episodes.
While Apple has charts that can be viewed for over 100 different countries and regions, Apple has highlighted the top shows in the U.S. and the UK, ahead of its big reveal of Show of the Year on Tuesday, December 5.
The most popular Podcasts in the U.S. for 2023 were:
- Crime Junkie
- The Daily
- Dateline NBC
- SmartLess
- This American Life
- Morbid
- Up First
- Huberman Lab
- Hidden Brain
- Stuff You Should Know
The top new US shows were:
- Scamanda
- The Retrievals
- The Deck Investigates
- Murder & Magnolias
- Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- The Girl in the Blue Mustang
- The Coldest Case in Laramie
- Murder in Apartment 12
- The Girlfriends
- Undetermined
The most shared US shows were:
- Scamanda
- Sold a Story
- The Retrievals
- Huberman Lab
- SmartLess
- The Witch Trials of J.K Rowling
- Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
- Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis Dreyfus
- The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
- True Sunlight
The most shared episodes:
- Huberman Lab: “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health”
- Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “Julia Gets Wise with Jane Fonda”
- The Daily: “The Fight Over Phonics”
- Hidden Brain: “The Paradox of Pleasure”
- Sold a Story: “The Problem”
- The Mel Robbins Podcast: “The ‘Let Them Theory’: A Life Changing Mindset Hack That 15 Million People Can’t Stop Talking About”
- The Retrievals: “The Patients”
- We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle: “Why We Love the Way We Love: Attachment Styles with Dr. Becky Kennedy”
- Just B with Bethenny Frankel: “Reality Reckoning: Rachel Leviss (Part One)”
- Serial: “The Alibi”
Apple also revealed the top free channel (iHeartPodcasts) and the top subscriber channel (Wondery).
While there are quite a few obvious winners and popular shows here, we were immediately drawn to the persistence of “The Alibi” from the Serial series, which is still in the top ten of shared episodes despite launching all the way back in 2014. The acclaimed true crime series clearly still has plenty of pull amongst its audience who are keen to share it with friends and family. In fact, true crime and murder mystery are clearly huge hits across the charts when it comes to listening on Apple Podcasts.
Over in the UK, things are a bit different. The top show was The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, while Goalhanger podcasts scooped two spots in the top ten with The Rest is Politics (number 2) and The Rest is History (number 5). As iMore’s resident historian, I can confirm the latter is the greatest podcast series to ever grace the airwaves. Goalhanger also scored a top new show with The Rest is Football. Interestingly, the UK podcast charts are markedly different from the US charts, with a much heavier focus on interviews and talk shows, and very little true crime.
As noted, Apple will unveil its Show of the Year on Tuesday, December 5. The Rest is History or we riot, Apple.
